Railway car truck



March l, 1938.

E.v P. o'cQNNoR RAILWAY 'CAR TRUCK Filed NOV. 27k. 1935A N VEN TOREdward R O Cormor` A TTOPNEY Patented Mar. l, 19.38

UNl'l'ED n lSTATES PATENTI 4OFFICE'.

y RAILWAY CAR TRUCK Edward 1 OConnor, Pittsburg, Kans. ApplicationlNovember 27, 1935, -Serial No. 51,836

7 Claims.-

My invention relates to railway car trucks and more particularly to atruck provided with a novel means of resiliently supporting the load tobe lcarried thereby.

In the railway car trucks ofthe known art the bolsters are mounted upona nest of s rings, usu- 'e wheel and track conditions.

ally a group of four at each spring plank, or alternatively uponelliptical springs.v 'I'hese springs arelcom'pressed under load andshock and recoil with approximatelya force equal 'and opposite to that'which caused them to be compressed. This recoil results in periodicoscillationsand vibra@ tions which depend upon the speed, the load, they These oscillations will pass through many cycles before the lcarreturns,- to its normal riding plane. Excessive shocks due' to springrecoil are transmitted to the car body and have been known to causedamage to the load.' to the cars and to the track. Then, too, theoscillations resulting from excessive spring recoil cause rocking andbouncing which.

' tend tov permit the wheels to leave the rails, thus presenting adanger of derailment.

cultiesabove mentioned are not eliminated by" The diilincreasing thespring capacity. VNumerous attemptshave been made to counteract thisknown condition by the use of snubbers, shock absorbers and dampingsprings which are intended to break up the undesirable harmonic motions.One object of my invention is to lprovide a spring construction in whichperiodicV oscillations and vibrations are dampened.-

Another object of my invention is to provide a spring assembly whichwill give easy riding without the use of an excessive spring capacity.

Further and other objects of my invention will appear from the followingdescription.

- In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of the instantspecification, which is to be read in conjunction therewith and in whichlike parts are indicated by likel reference numerals in the variousviews.

Figure 1 is aside elevation of a railway car truck equipped with oneembodiment of my in- 45 k vention.

50 Figure 4 is a sectional elevation, on an lenlarged scale, of a springassembly used in the ment shown in Figures 1 and 2. i

In general, my-invention contemplates the use embodiof a pair oi camsforced outwardly by springs 56 whose ax'es are at right angles to thethrust whereby the friction to movement of the cam surfaces will act asa damping force. a

More particularly, referring now to the draw- "f -ing,thewheels Isupport the customary axles2 on upon which are`mounted thecustomaryspring spring assemblies of my invention which support theusual truck bolster 4 which in turn supports the railway car body. y Thespring assembly comprises a lower member 5 and a like upper member 6.The member 5 is provided, with a pair of longitudinally extending,inclined surfacesl and 8, and the upper member 6 isprovided with a. pairof longitudinally extending, inclined surfaces 9 and I0, as may bereadily seen by reference to Figure 4. A cam member II is provided withcam surfaces I2 and I3 adapted to co-actrwith surfaces 9 and 1, and ispositioned extending longitudinally between members 5 and 6, as canreadily be seen by reference to Figure 4. `A similar cam member I4 isprovided with cam surfaces I5 'and I6 adapted to co-act with surfaces Band I0, respectively, and is positioned similar to cam member II. 'I'hecam members II and I4 are urged outwardly by `a pair of springs I8. Thespringsare positioned about a pair of bolts .I9 which pass through thecams II'and I3. The bolts I9 are lower members 5 are supported by thespring planks 3,' as can readily be seen by reference to Figures 1 and2. A channel member 24 provided with upstanding anges and 26 is carriedby the spring planks 3. The upstanding flanges prevent movement of themembers 5. It is to be understood, of course, that any suitable securingmeans may be employed for securing the lower members 5 to the springplanks. The upper members Sdirectly support thetruck bolster 4 as canreadily be seen by reference to Figures 1 and 2. Since the load iscarried by th'e bolsters, any thrusts occasioned by the load will bedirectly transmitted to the upper members 6. It will be observed thatthe action will be to compress members 5 and 6, that is, to exert aforce tending to move member 6 toward member 5. When this occurs,'theinclined surfaces 9 and I0 of member 6 and the inclined surfaces I and 8of'member and I I have i3() In operation, the assemblyis such that the-5 will tend to-force cams II and I4 inwardly to\\` ward each other, thuscompressing springs I8. It will be observed that there will be amovement of surface '9 with respect to surface I2, a move'- ment ofsurface 9 with respect to surface I3, a movement of surface I3 withrespect to surface 'I, and a. movement of surface I6 with respect tosurface The friction occasioned by thisl movement will act as ajsnubbingor damping means, preventing harmonic motions. If the shock is great orthe load is sufficiently great, the inward movement of cam members I Iand I4 will be such that springs 22 will come .into play, providing forgreater spring capacity. If the load is heavy, the movement will besuiliclent so that the benefit of both springs I8 and 22 is obtained. Asimilar action takes place upon recoil, the force stored in the springspushing cams I I and I4 and camming members 5 and 6 apart.

sWith the railway truck of my invention the vertical variation isreduced by one half due to the fact that one half of the "movement isconverted to a direction along a horizontal axis. It will be observedthat this gives my spring'arrangement another desirable characteristic!along the standpoint of maintenance. The action of friction in the truckassemblyn` of my invention acts as a snubber for applied shocks as wellas the shocks of reaction, thus reducing side sway, harmonic and springmotion. A railway freight car .equipped with the spring assembly of myinvention proved to be a smooth, easy riding car. There is less tendencyto bouncing, damage to freight is minimized and a Iless danger ofderailment exists.

It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of myclaims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made indetails within the scope of my claims without departing from the spiritof my invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that my invention isnot to be limited to the specific details shown vand described.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a railway truck a spring assembly comprising in combination, achannel member having a pair of upstanding flanges formed withdownwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces, a second channel memberspaced above said first channel member having flanges formed withupwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces, a pair oi cammembers,positioned-between said channel members having inclined surfacesin contact with the inclined surfaces of said channel members, a coilspring horizontally positioned between said cam members urging them tocam said channel members apart, and a limiting rod axially positionedwithin ythe spring forlimiting the outward movement of said cam members.

2. In a railway truck a spring assembly comprising ln-combination achannel member having a pair of upstanding iianges formed withdownwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces, a second channel memberspaced above said iirst channel 'member having flanges formed withupwardly inclined surfaces of said channel members, a pair ofhorizontally positioned coil springs of different length lyingtransversely of the truck and positioned between said cam members, theconstruction being such that the longer of said springsurges said cammembers apart under light loads and both of said springs urge said cammembers apart under heavy loads, and means for limiting the outwardmovement of said cam members.

3. In a railway truck comprising in combination, wheels mounted uponaxles, a pair of spring planks supported by said axles, a pair ofchannel members 'supported by said side frames, each of said channelmembers beingprovided with a pair of upstanding flanges formed withinclined surfaces, a second pair of channel members positioned abovesaid first channel members and provided with downwardly extendingflanges formed with inclined surfaces, a pair of cams having inclinedsurfaces in contact with the inclined surfaces of the channel memberspositioned between each pair of channel members, a plurality ofhorizontally disposed coil vsprings having their axes parallel to theaxles of the truck and positioned between each pair of cam membersnormally urging the same outwardly to camsald channel members apart, anda bolster supported by said upper channelmembers.

4. In combination with railway trucks for rolling stock, springassemblies comprising upper vand lower cam surfaces, cam followerscontacting the upper and lower cam surfaces, coil spring memberspositioned between the cam followers having their axes substantiallyparallel to the truck axles and serving as the sole support for theweight imposed on the spring assemblies.

5. In combination with railway trucks for rolling stock, springassemblies comprising upper and lower cam surfaces, camfollowerscontacting the upper and lower cam surfaces, double coilsprings of different lengths between the cam followers and arrangedtransversely of the trucks, adapted to support the entire weight imposedon the spring assemblies and dampen periodic vibration. v

6. In combination with railway trucks for rolling stock, springassemblies comprising uppery and lower cam surfaces, cam followerscontacting the upper and lower cam surfaces, means for limiting theoutward movement of the cam followers, horizontally positioned coilsprings of different lengths arranged transversely of the trucks andbetween the cam followers, adapted to support the entire weight on thespring assemblies and dampen periodic vibration.

7. In a railway truck a spring assembly cornprising in combination achannel member having a pair of upstanding flanges formed withdownwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces, a second channel memberspaced above said first channel memberhaving flanges formed withupwardly and inwardly inclined surfaces, a pair of cam memberspositioned between said channel members having inclined surfaces incontact with the inclined surfaces of said channel members, a pair ofhorizontally positioned coil springs lying transversely of the truck andpositioned between said cam members, the construction being such thatthe coil springs serve as a sole support for the weight imposed upon thespring assembly, and limiting rods passing through each of said springsto limit the outward motion of said cari members by said springs.

` EDWARD P. OCONNOR.

